This is Autoline Daily reporting on all aspects of the global automotive industry.

VW CUTS SALES GROWTH FOR 2020As we’ve reported, the global auto industry is going through a downturn and the largest automaker in the world is feeling the effects. Volkswagen announced its cutting sales growth for next year, mostly due to weak demand in China. Previously it forecasted a 25% increase compared to 2016, now it’s cut that to 20%.

VW CUTS COST OF EV PRODUCTIONLast week, VW announced a huge $66 billion investment into EVs. And while that’s a big commitment, the company will get significant cost savings producing electric vehicles. Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess told investors that its new ID.3 EV will be 40% cheaper to manufacture than the electric version of the Golf. The battery cells and battery system provide most of the cost savings, while about 5 to 10% comes from dedicating an entire plant to building EVs. If Volkswagen can save that much on production, it will be a big help for the company to remain profitable in its shift from combustion engine cars to electrics.

BMW REVEALS i4 DETAILSBy 2023, BMW will have 25 electrified models and it’s revealing more about one of the all-electric versions, the i4. You can get a sense of the shape of the sedan but details are still obscured by camo while it’s under testing. Powering the i4 is an electric motor that delivers roughly 390 kW or 530 horsepower and an 80-kWh battery pack. It will do 0 to 100 km/h in around 4.0 seconds and has an approximate range of 600 WLTP kilometers or 330 EPA miles. Production of the i4 starts in 2021.

AUDI NAMES NEW CEOAnd speaking of German automakers, Audi has a new leader. It named former BMW executive Markus Duessmann as its next CEO starting April 1st of next year. The luxury brand has struggled since it fired former CEO Rupert Stadler last year due to the diesel emission cheating scandal. Duessmann is an engineer and the company hopes that know-how will help reinvent the brand.

UAW RATIFIES NEW FORD CONTRACTOn Friday, UAW members voted in favor of a new 4-year labor contract with Ford. The union said 56.3% of workers approved the deal. As part of it, Ford will invest more than $6 billion in its U.S. plants, create or retain 8,500 UAW jobs, pay raises and lump sum payments over the life of the contract, path to full-time employment for temps and unchanged healthcare coverage. This just leaves FCA for the UAW to bargain with, but as we’ve said it’s not as likely to go as smoothly as it did with Ford, since FCA is at the center of the UAW scandal.

VIRTUAL VEHICLE TEAR DOWN
It’s important for car companies to benchmark their competitors and on last week’s Autoline After Hours, we were joined by Mathew Vachaparampil, the President and CEO of a company called Caresoft, which is able to provide analysis of a vehicle without having to tear it down. It uses a giant CT scanner to scan a vehicle and that data is then digitized so you can see everything in the car wearing virtual reality goggles. In the following clip, John gets a tutorial of the system from Mathew. Check it out.

Mathew Vachaparampil, President and CEO, Caresoft Global
“So you can see every part, every gear, and so on… So here’s the full construction of the vehicle… of the motor. So if you click that button that gives you all the information of that part, and the way we synchronize this is most customers have a PLM system (Product Lifecycle Management System) like Teamcenter, so this integrates in very well and you’re able to have the data. The objective here is to have the same information as a competitor, and it is to understand quickly what the competition is doing so that you can learn- it’s like us going to school- we try to learn from the past and [learn] a degree and to shrink your product development lifecycle (PDL) because PDL are shrinking from 36 months to [now] 24 months and so on so this is your edge to understand the competition.”

To learn more about Caresoft and its technology, you can watch that entire show right now on our website, Autoline.tv or you can find it on our YouTube channel.

ACURA MDX GETS LIMITED HAND BUILT MODELSHonda poured a bunch of money to build a new Performance Manufacturing Center at its plant in Marysville, Ohio, which makes the Acura NSX. With sales of that car lagging behind what was hoped, Honda has started to make limited-edition versions of its other vehicles in the PMC. The latest to get the treatment is the Acura MDX SUV. Each one is hand assembled by the same master technicians that build the NSX and only 300 will be made for the U.S. and 30 for Canada. Surprisingly, they’re not ridiculously marked up. Acura says pricing will be in the mid-$60,000 range, but a regular MDX with most of the same features would be at least $60,000.

HOW FORD DEVELOPED THE MUSTANG MACH-E
We’ve got a great background story on how Ford developed the Mustang Mach-E. At first they had no intention of making a performance electric car. Instead, they started developing a “compliance car,” that was essentially a Ford Escape stuffed with batteries. But when Jim Hackett became CEO he asked why they were developing an electric that had no hope of selling and would lose money. So he shut the program down and ordered them to tap into Ford’s iconic nameplates to come up with something people would love to buy. Jim Farley then pushed for an electric CUV that looked and drove like a Mustang.

That meant Ford had to throw out nearly 2 years of development work, yet Hackett forced them to keep the original production date. The team raced into action, using Ford’s customer-centric and cross-functional team approach. To develop a massive infotainment screen like Tesla’s they made mockups from cardboard and paper. Customer research showed that people wanted a rotary knob for volume control. To quickly test that, they took an empty Keurig coffee pod, poked a straw through the bottom and attached it to the cardboard screen with a brass fastener. Customers loved the concept, so the Mach E has a 15.5 inch screen with a big rotary knob at the bottom. It was developed in only 90 days. To develop the chassis, they used Ford’s racing simulator in North Carolina to quickly try out different setups and iterations, which saved a lot of time. Put it all together and the program went from sketch to production tooling design in only one year. These days that is blinding fast.

By the way, if you’d like to learn a lot more about the Mach-E to tune in to Autoline After Hours this Thursday. We’ll have the top engineer and designer on and we’ll take a deep dive into what this car is all about. That’s this Thursday at 3 pm eastern time on our website Autoline.tv and on our youTube channel.

MUSTANG MACH-E PERFORMANCE DETAILSBut here’s a few facts and figures to hold you over until that show. It will be offered with a standard (75.7 kWh) or extended range, 98.8 kWh battery pack and rear- or all-wheel drive. The extended-range battery pack and rear-wheel drive will return at least 300 miles of range. Performance will vary among models, but Ford says the GT is aiming for a 0-60 time under 4 seconds, while the GT with Performance Package will do it in the mid-3 second range.

But that wraps up today’s show, thanks for watching and please join us again tomorrow.

Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com

Should have called it Bronco Mach-E…not Mustang. We know what happened when Ford tried to make the Mustang into a FWD car and ended up calling it the Probe. Does this vehicle qualify for the $7500 tax rebate considering it is made in Mexico?

Mach E – mock ups with cardboard and paper and coffee pods ?? I thought that’s why we had 3D printers now?
Mach E looks great and is the type of vehicle I’ve thought Cadillac should have had, electric or ICE, for years now.

I like most of the styling of the Machine E (IMHO, it should just be named Mach E;for it appears that other news outlets are saying that it’s name is the Mustang Mach E), but the blue one at the end of this segment had a different “grill” and front skirt. That version looked incredible!!! Was that the the high output version, the GT version or just another exterior appearance package? Being based around the Mustang and the wide assortment of appearance packages that it has, could certainly work for this EV with the ‘Stung serving as its inspiration! That in and of itself could/would separate it from its rivals, should this vehicle turn into the sales success that Ford hopes it does. From the looks of it, at least on the surface, it might just.

Mach-E looks good enough, although I still haven’t gotten used to vehicles without a grille. That still looks a bit funky with an outline design where the grille would be, then just filled with a solid panel. They need to design it more like GM’s EV1 or even the 1982 Taurus design which had an opening around the oval Ford emblem. I just don’t get the flat nose look. On the interior I have to say I’m a bit disappointed that it looks like a blatant copy of a Tesla interior. The screen still looks like a tablet attached to the dash and not sure why its so difficult to make them look like part of the design.

I agree Lambo, the screen looks like a last-minute add on and something that would get in the way at times. Ram was able to integrate a large screen into its dash, why can’t the car companies do a better job with this? They didn’t even try to put the lower half of it into the dash. And, since the dash behind it isn’t being used for anything, I don’t get the “tacked on” look that several automakers have adopted. It makes it look like my old Garmin nav unit did. An afterthought.

I also agree about the screen, looks kind of dumb- totally stuck on. It almost looks like they mocked it up with a piece of cardboard, taped it to the dash and called it a day. Done and done. Oh wait, apparently that’s exactly what they did.

From perusing the Ford website, the Mach-E GT model has a brushed metal-looking face that emulates a grille. But the car is a no-go for me as the only seat material is vinyl, “ActiveX” in Ford Marketing lingo.

Speaking of Ford Marketing, the car is DOA if the Ford website is any indication of the the Marketing effort. The embedded videos make every amateur YouTube video look like a Cecil B. DeMille classic in comparison.

#7,8,9 True, about the screen. But I, for one, like the functionality of the volume knob.

Hopefully that screen does get a bit better integrated into the dash before it hits production though. Looks really easy to knock loose by mistake. i.e., kid climbing from front seat to rear and clipping edge of the screen with his shoe…

The Mach E should be a contender but it really doesn’t move the bar; it solidly matches most of the competition (perhaps offering a cost advantage) but when all the boxes are marked and the competition is challenged the price is fairly close. It is definitely an alternative though.

14 Well Ford certainly have a few things going for them that could be considered cons against the Tesla. A nationwide dealership network, Being sold in all 50 states and Ford has a long established parts network that insures components are available at the time of production. If the performance, quality and price are on par with the Tesla then it could do very well. Like MJB said I like the back end much better than the front but the overall design is as attractive as the Tesla.

I was initially very angry at Ford for using the Mustang name (I own four Mustangs) but I have to say they did a nice job. I especially like the Grabber Blue GT (459HP and 600 TQ, wow) and I can get through the snow with it (AWD).

16 With the boxes checked, the Ford will cost as much as the i-pace, and may, or may not be a better vehicle The version of the Ford that might appeal to me, if I had a place to charge it, would be the basic rear drive version, for about $37.5K after tax credit. I would get most of it, now that I’m withdrawing from my 401k.

Speaking of i-pace, maybe they should have called it E-Type. That name has a legacy with the company.

The Mustang Mach E will be fun to watch. Marketing fiasco with the name making current Mustang owners mad, made in Mexico, all new design, chassis, electronics, and the best part being the short 1-2 years in development using cardboard and coffee cans. And if the vehicle fails it will tarnish the iconic Mustang brand big time. Hackett will be gone by then.

11 Seriously? from the side, it looks just like the TESLAS it APES. Then they sprinkle the “mustang” name where it sure does not belong, and pray. This is the most you can expect from the likes of Jim Farley and Humpty Dumpty Hackett.

Yet they get the $7,500 utterly undeserved break awarded only to the LOSERS and NOT to the SUCCESFUL EV sellers, and so are Audi and Jag and all the other Tesla Wannabes,

And to top it all, Tesla is not even allowed to compete with them and is forbidden to sell any of their successful and great vehicles in MY State, directly to me.

20 Not my idea of fun and fair play, when the WINNERS and SUCCESSFUL makers are not even ALLOWED to sell their car in my state and 26 other states, while the losers are given a $7,500 from the POOR taxpayers to the more affluent.

Sounds downright stupid planning to me, but this is Congress for you, they were never noted for their intelligence, only for their corruption.

24 This could be very confusing. If Jag is serious about BEVs, and any other established ICE maker, they should have a totally separate clean green DIVISION for them, and name it appropriately. Will not be easy.

26,29 Elon should, and probably is trying to get state laws changed, but if he really wants to sell in all states, why not work something out to use Autozone, Midas, Costco, or some national chain as franchise dealers?

Yesterday I was surprised to see three different Citroen models in the space of a few feet here. That is more than all the Fords I have seen here in Nov so far (one Focus and one Lincoln with the ugly grille). There are plenty of Buicks, many Chevys (usually smaller models) and a few Caddys, lots of VWs and even Skodas. The E 260 Long I saw yesterday, on a different recent E class than the several I saw a week ago, did not look as good, even tho it was also in the usual black on chrome,. I think the styling of that speficic redesign did not lend it to “L” versions.

Can’t see what all the fuss is about, the Mustang Mach-E is little more than an electric Ford Escape with a really stupid name and outrageous pricing, even for an electric car, and especially one from Ford. Yawn.

38 In fact the article says they bought close to $70 mill of Fords and only 0.5 mill or so of Hondas. Despite the significant popularity of Hondas (and TOyotas) in CA, where they can live for ever, in the absence of rust.

37 Why is the pricing outrageous? Starting price is $43k and you get a performance car, not a compliance ev like the much smaller Bolt and Leaf. AND you get the $7,500 tax credit (plus additional state and local tax credits as applicable) you can’t get either on the Bolt or on any Tesla.

40 The base RWD Ford will have about the same performance, at least acceleration, as a Bolt. The 4wd long range is about a second quicker, according to estimates. For those who can use the full $7500 tax credit, the base Ford will cost only about $5K more than a base Bolt, with current “incentives,” and the Ford will look pretty much like a Tesla Y, from a side view.

Even though the Accord won without its available manual (the only car in the group that offered one), which would probably reduce its price and increase the driving satisfaction. They chose it with the accursed CVT for “parity”.

PS I read some CVT cars fake gearshifts. Now how stupid is that? (hint: very)

43 Interesting review, but I find it strange the the writers seemed to LIKE the fake gear shifts of the CVTs.

I’ve driven hybrid versions of two of them, the Honda, and the Camry, which I own. Much of what they say about the displays of Camry does not apply to mine, which has an upgrade from the stripper special they tested. I mostly liked the Accord, but the thing that sold me on the Camry was the powertrain. The current Accord hybrid matches the Camry in mpg, but has some clutches and things that add complexity, and you sometimes feel them doing things. I like the completely seamless operation of the Toyota hybrid powertrain. No fake shifts, and I don’t want them.

44 CVTs are everywhere, but the biggest engines using them, that I know of, are Nissan V6s of around 300 hp. Apparently it would be hard to make them strong enough for more power than that, or the transmissions would need to get too large.

27 If this isn’t Tesla cheerleading I don’t know what is.
“Yet they get the $7,500 utterly undeserved break awarded only to the LOSERS and NOT to the SUCCESFUL EV sellers, and so are Audi and Jag and all the other Tesla Wannabes,”
I don’t understand your reasoning at all. It sounds like you feel the only ones that should get the tax break are manufacturers (Tesla) that are successful which really means successful in Larry’s eyes. To you it would seem fair to use tax payers dollars to provide tax credits on EVs but only to the manufacturer that is what? Has the best selling EV? The incentive is to promote the sales of EVs not help make any one manufacturer succeed. Your obvious distain for Ford has blinded you to what possibly could be the first real competitor to Tesla and is also an American company. As you have said many times (in ref to Tesla) you should want to see an American company succeed.

47 cont.. First you say that the credits should only go to the successful EVs and then follow that up with.

“Not my idea of fun and fair play, when the WINNERS and SUCCESSFUL makers are not even ALLOWED to sell their car in my state and 26 other states, while the losers are given a $7,500 from the POOR taxpayers to the more affluent.”

So you do, or don’t want fair play? I’m so confused by your flip flopping. Wouldn’t fair play require Tesla to also use dealerships like all the other manufacturers? The cost of a Tesla would probably go up a few thousand with the addition of a dealer network. Not that I agree with that requirement but in YOUR desire for fair play and equality shouldn’t Tesla be required to play by the same rules? They can easily be sold in your state and the other 26 all Elon has to do is allow independent dealerships to sell the vehicles. Actually quite simple fix if he truly wanted to increase sales.